Which harddrive to get and where...

[JesusFish]

Hi, i'm in the process of getting a new hard drive, 100-120gb, and i'm currently looking at the Seagate Barracuda V and the IBM 180GXP. The only thing is there is supposedly a 8mb version of the 120gb 180gxp but i can't find it anywhere, anyone know if it's out? What's your opinion? I like the IBM simply because it's a nice mix between the barracuda and the wd jb series, ie speed w/ low dB level. I know IBMs track record is spotty after the 60/75GXP problem, but from what i've read everything looks fine now, and anyways most HD manufacturers have had their problems. Also the reason i'm not considering a WD JB is because they're simply too loud for my tastes. Anyways lemme know what you think would be a good choice, the seagate or ibm (if ibm where can i get the 8mb version). thanks!

 

[newbiepcuser]

Seagate btw the two. No longer trust IBM, too many pooped on me.

Dell with their bargains, you can get a good deal on cudda IV.

 

[JesusFish]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser
Seagate btw the two. No longer trust IBM, too many pooped on me.

Dell with their bargains, you can get a good deal on cudda IV.

Why not a V?

 

[newbiepcuser]

I don't think Dell carries those yet.

Honestly, I don't think you can tell the difference.

You might want to look into the Maxtor fluid ball bearing series, the ones with 8mb buffer. I heard those are pretty quiet. Plenty of deals on those, look for them in your sunday paper or the hot deals forum.

read the review yourself on cudda IV-->cuda V


Summary of review from storage review web site

The ATA-100 Barracuda ATA V is a package that delivers more or less what one would expect from Seagate's continued evolution of the series. Though it improves slightly upon the performance delivered by the 'Cuda ATA IV, the V is not a breakneck speed leader. It does, however, combine solid desktop performance (perhaps within a margin of the leaders that is all but unnoticeable) with unbelievably quiet operation. Perhaps the most exciting prospect, however, is the mating of this whisper-quiet functionality with the potentially leading performance of the 8-megabyte SATA version. We can't wait!

 

[kidjan]

To be honest with you, I doubt you'll be able to notice a differerence between those two drives unless you're doing extremely disk-intensive tasks. For typical office/general use, I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between my WD1200JB (120 gb drive with 8 meg cache) and my Seagate 'Cuda IV - with certain tasks, the WD is faster, but it's certainly not a mind-boggling difference.

In light of that, I would go with whatever is cheaper. I've always like Seagate drives a lot - but I've never had a bad experience with IBM drives either (and I think IBM has cleaned up their act since the 60/75 fiasco). I'd look at the cost, and go with whatever is the most friendly to the wallet.